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Green energy from sound

"Piezoelectric materials generate an electric voltage when subjected to some sounds..."
 
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This time be ready for the next meteor blast. The same sound energy that recently knocked out windows and busted through doors in Russia's Chelyabinsk region could power your next barbecue.

Sound energy traps set up around airports, war zones, quarries, industrial areas and road noise volcanoes,, crashing waves, military fighter practice areas, race tracks, bowling alleys, concerts, thunderstorms, and road and tunnel construction zones where explosives are being used could pump the amps to your iPad

Power to the people!

Sunstone, Feb 17 2013

Capture sound waves to create energy https://www.google....al&client=firefox-a
[Sunstone, Feb 17 2013]

Power from vibration. http://www.physlink...Vibration-Power.cfm
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 18 2013]

...and another. http://johnnysmoes....tricity-with-sound/
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Feb 19 2013]

Sound Catcher https://www.google....AQ&biw=1024&bih=573
A good ol' parabolic dish, or a dancing flock of them - a tribute to flocking road cones -, would be the easiest way to grab a wave at this time [Sunstone, Feb 20 2013]

Sound traps too http://www.drumperf...com/sound_traps.htm
[Sunstone, Feb 20 2013]

New device can create electricity from vibrations http://phys.org/new...ue-electricity.html
New method can be used in harvesting energy from mechanical vibrations of the environment and converting it into electricity [Sunstone, Nov 11 2014]

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       If the author could give a bit more detailed description of how these piezo sound traps are supposed to work, I might be more inclined to believe they could.
Alterother, Feb 17 2013
  

       Given all the microphones we have in this world, don't you think that if there was harvestable energy echoing around, we'd be likely to think of capturing it with something quite like a microphone?   

       Given all the microphones we have in this world, haven't you noticed that they all need amplifiers of some sort? You screaming into a cell phone isn't enough to modulate the radio circuit, let alone power the phone.   

       There simply isn't that much energy in sound. It takes an asteroid at miles per second to break window glass.   

       Here's a comparison: Solar energy can heat up your car, fade your paint, blister your skin and bubble your tar, but there isn't enough of it to be worth capturing, most times. Sound can shake things that are harmonically resonant, but otherwise it's weak---we don't get sound-burns, or hot cars, or crumbly plastic from long-term sound damage---until a jet flies low or a meteor smacks atmo, when it shatters glass with all the impact of a cheap BB gun.
baconbrain, Feb 17 2013
  

       Gets a (+) from me. This [link] from Sonic Generators gives me hope.   

       Catch your own farts.
UnaBubba, Feb 18 2013
  

       Wouldn't it just be easier to just attach the piezo directly to the blacksmith type named bones in the ear.   

       By the use of the suitable software and a variable resistor one could tune out all those people saying my ideas are crap, while still being able to hear birdsong.
not_morrison_rm, Feb 18 2013
  

       The link shows that the idea is in development, at least, but mostly for mounting on vibrating objects. It isn't baked because the current best for the technology is the capture of one-millionth of a watt.   

       Again, there just isn't much energy in sound. Wikipedia points out that a *very* small pressure variation is, to us, a deafening noise.   

       Look at amplifiers for music, for instance. You can sit under an 100-watt lightbulb all day, but an 100-watt amplifier will send you reeling in pain. Which is to say that if you captured *all* the sound energy in an extremely noisy room, you'd be lucky to get enough power to light the place.   

       Describe for me, please, any physical effects of sound that do not involve hearing. There are broken windows from sonic booms, avalanches legendarily triggered by loud sounds, and wineglasses supposedly shattered, but that's all I can recall. Where and how else is there any indication that sound has any power in the world.
baconbrain, Feb 18 2013
  

       You can feel sound in your chest well enough if you stand close to the stacks in a club. Not sure that happy hardcore is the renewable energy source of the future, though.
calum, Feb 18 2013
  

       My own take on it is to shape buildings to focus ambient sound to collectors on opposite buildings.   

       // Describe for me, please, any physical effects of sound that do not involve hearing //   

       Oh, I dunno, the properties behind SONAR, ultrasound imaging (sonograms), ultrasonic cleaners, and the visible air disturbance in front of giant subwoofers at rock concerts, for starters. I'm sure others will come up with a dozen more.
Alterother, Feb 18 2013
  

       As the esteemed [bacon] points out, there is no significant energy in even loud, persistent sounds. Any sound-harvesting apparatus will consume far more energy in manufacture, installation and maintenance than it can hope to harvest.   

       If in doubt, look to nature. There are organisms that harvest energy from sunlight. There are organisms that harvest the organisms that harvest energy from sunlight. There are organisms that harvest the organisms that harvest the organisms that harvest energy from sunlight. There are organisms that thrive on the crap of the organisms that harvest the organisms that harvest the organisms that harvest energy from sunlight.   

       But there are no organisms that harvest the energy from sound.   

       There is, incidentally, a number called the Delton- Favery quotient. It is based on a purely theoretical analysis of the minimal energy needed to construct and maintain a perfect device for harvesting energy, given the density (in both space and time) of the energy to be harvested.   

       For solar energy at the Earth's surface, the DF quotient is something like 10^8, meaning that a hypothetical perfect and minimalist solar collector could harvest 10^8 times more energy than it would take to build and maintain it (real devices are typically thousands to millions of times less efficient). For 150dB sound (very, very, very loud) at 400Hz, the DF quotient is about 10; a real-life device might be 1/1000th as efficient, meaning that it could harvest 1/100th as much energy as it consumed to build and maintain.   

       In other words, building devices to harvest energy from sound would be about as green at building a 100ft wind turbine out of panda teeth in order to harvest the energy from farts.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 18 2013
  

       <Crumples up life's work>
rcarty, Feb 18 2013
  

       //<Crumples up life's work>//   

       Trust me, the crumpling is the first step. You can then embark on a short but enjoyable sojourn on the beaches of Bitter and Twisted, before moving on to Revenge.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 18 2013
  

       Oh, that wasn't my life's work. I tend to avoid that kind of thing.
rcarty, Feb 18 2013
  

       You are well on the way to enlightenment. Most of your life is preamble; you'll know when you enter the amble.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 18 2013
  

       I think the word you meant is ambulance.   

       I plan to stay in the preambulance as long as possible.
rcarty, Feb 18 2013
  

       // Oh, I dunno, the properties behind SONAR, ultrasound imaging (sonograms), ultrasonic cleaners, and the visible air disturbance in front of giant subwoofers at rock concerts, for starters. I'm sure others will come up with a dozen more. //   

       Sonar pretty much involves hearing/detecting the reflected sound, as do sonograms.   

       Ultrasonic cleaners are an excellent example, though, and I have used one, and should have recalled. But I'm going to say that their sound is transmitted through water and still doesn't pose a risk to the materials being cleaned, so meh.   

       As for the visible air disturbance in front of giant subwoofers at rock concerts, I am going to say that I had never heard of such a thing. Wow! That happens? I'd like to see that, but not hear it.   

       I'll add the scene from Big Bang Theory where the guys put cornstarch-and-water above the cone of a big speaker.
baconbrain, Feb 19 2013
  

       //a 100ft wind turbine out of panda teeth in order to harvest the energy from farts.//   

       So, um, if you're not gonna post that one, can I have it?
ytk, Feb 19 2013
  

       But... it is already being done. [link] 2 and 3.   

       //But there are no organisms that harvest the energy from sound.//   

       There is research into whether beetles use shapes in their chitin to amplify sound for flight. Would that count?   

       The power-harvester in [2 fries]'s first link does not harvest energy from sound, but from vibrations in solid structures. The second link appears to be gibberish, although I don't speak gibber fluently enough to be certain; it could be one of the Western dialects of balderdash.   

       //whether beetles use shapes in their chitin to amplify sound for flight. Would that count?// No.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 19 2013
  

       I'm pretty certain that Sunstone is taking the piss here.
RayfordSteele, Feb 19 2013
  

       //       As for the visible air disturbance ... That happens? I'd like to see that, but not hear it.  //   

       I've seen it first-hand, very impressive. You can find videos of it on YooToob. I've linked to one before, in a different idea
Alterother, Feb 19 2013
  

       I believe that [LordMaxwell]'s sound idea is where I posted that link.
Alterother, Feb 20 2013
  

       //There is, incidentally, a number called the Delton- Favery quotient.//   

       Got a link? Google doesn't find much.
Wrongfellow, Feb 20 2013
  

       // the visible air disturbance in front of giant subwoofers at rock concerts //   

       Are we talking about the movement of plastic bags and hair and such? I searched YouTube and found "speakers moving air" for car speakers and plastic bags. That was impressive, and showed the fuzzy area between sound and air movement.   

       But I had visualized seeing the differences in the air itself, like the exhaust of a turbine engine.   

       ----   

       As for physical effects of sound ...   

       I read somewhere that the clicking of a telegraph key used to make the flame of a gas jet flicker slightly. I've not seen anything like that actually happen, except those gas burners where the sound is fed in.   

       I've used a sound-powered phone on a old military ship. It had a microphone with a collar around it, and you had to speak directly into it, and wear headphones to hear anything.
baconbrain, Feb 21 2013
  

       Ideas about sound energy are all bark and no bite.
UnaBubba, Feb 21 2013
  

       Regarding: "the clicking of a telegraph key used to make the flame of a gas jet flicker slightly. Flames can act as a speaker or microphone" if the flame is properly wired.
Sunstone, Feb 21 2013
  

       //if the flame is properly wired// IEEE-1394
lurch, Feb 21 2013
  

       //       But I had visualized seeing the differences in the air itself, like the exhaust of a turbine engine.   //   

       It looks very similar to heat mirage. I'll try to find the video that I linked in [Max]'s idea. It sometimes shows up in still shots; try photos taken on stage at Grateful Dead concerts.
Alterother, Feb 21 2013
  

       ////There is, incidentally, a number called the Delton- Favery quotient.// Got a link? Google doesn't find much.//   

       I've just checked and it would appear that I made the whole thing up.
MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 21 2013
  

       //Describe for me, please, any physical effects of sound that do not involve hearing// Powerful ultrasonic standing waves can levitate small objects.
spidermother, Feb 28 2013
  

       Good one, [spidermother]. I'd forgotten about that.   

       Something from my day at an elementary school: If you could capture all the sound energy from the sound of a piano playing, you'd get all the power of someone tapping their fingers on a table.   

       (I was trying to take a desperately-needed nap in the teachers lounge, and the music room was right next door. The piano was loud (and good), and the player turned out to be a little old lady.)
baconbrain, Mar 01 2013
  

       I was once quietly, and competently, playing some classical guitar pieces in a courtyard at uni, on the weekend, when someone called out from a window 50 metres away asking me to stop. I went elsewhere, but when I passed by the same spot a bit later, someone else was loudly practicing scales on a trombone close to where I'd been. Sometimes there is justice.
spidermother, Mar 07 2013
  

       like many here, I think wind power is just big acoustic power. is there such a thing as an atmosphereic soliton storm?
beanangel, May 25 2016
  


 

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